'I had to fight': Osaka recovers from wobble to reach US Open third round

[p]The 13th seed has spent years taming her own tendency ‌toward self-recrimination, and showed the best evidence of her ‌new career outlook as she reclaimed her composure with a ‌bathroom break before the third set at Arthur Ashe Stadium.[/p][p][b]"The ‌match was definitely really tough. I don't know, I just felt like I had to fight,"[/b] said [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/osaka-naomi/MDM4BKiA/"]Osaka[/a], who will next play ‌Belgian [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/mertens-elise/Y1ZrrUtl/"]Elise Mertens[/a].[/p][p][b]"I think I was a little ⁠bit too hard on ‌myself, so I took the bathroom break, tried to regroup and ​have no regrets."[/b][/p][embed guid="196d9923-5f15-41c9-8803-c19ebc4a322c" url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHnJfjZH5KM" social-type="youtube" /][p]The winner in 2018 and 2020 was pristine through the first set, with just four ​unforced errors, as she broke her opponent to love in the fourth game. The Czech did herself no favours with ⁠three double faults ​in the eighth game before letting Osaka break again on set point with an unforced error.[/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/tennis/osaka-n-MDM4BKiA/siniakova-k-OKXs3Wah/?mid=4KtRM21s"]It was a different story in the second set[/a], where Osaka's form dropped just as [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/siniakova-katerina/OKXs3Wah/"]Siniakova[/a] ‌hit her stride, and the Japanese 13th seed put up 20 unforced errors that gave the Czech too many chances.[/p][p]After trading breaks twice in the second set, Osaka tapped her racket on the court in frustration after whacking a backhand into the net and handed Siniakova the break with another backhand error in the penultimate game.[/p][image alt="Osaka defeated Siniakova" id="2782d670-a903-4afc-ba43-5b3c1c30b1ba" credit-line="Flashscore" guid="2436010e-d945-4440-be71-e25c28c0314c" original-width="2160" original-height="2700" /][p]Osaka went to the locker room before the third set, a decision that ‌helped her move on.[/p][p][b]"I just told myself that it's ​an honour to play on this court,"[/b] said Osaka, ‌who reached the semi-finals a year ago. "I just want to keep playing in front of you guys, if possible."[/p][p]She emerged back on the court with new resolve, sprinting through the first three games and saving two break ⁠points in the fifth ⁠before closing it out ‌with an unreturnable serve.[/p][infobox id="3dc51b3a-107f-482b-9173-a97d347ef1b3" /]